Apparatus for burning petroleum



other Hydrocarbons;

UNITED STATE-s. PATENT OFFICE.

GIDEON O. SPENCE, OF TITUSVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA.

APPARATUS FORBURNING PETROLEUM, &c., IN CONIUNCTION WITH STEAM 0R HEATEDAIR. 0R BOTH.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 641,260, dated April30, 1866.

To all whom it may' concern.'r

Beit known thatI, GlDEoN O. SPENCE, ofthe city of Titusville, county ofCrawford, and State of Pennsylvania, h ave invented a new and ImprovedMethod of Burning Petroleum and and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact descriptionl thereof, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part ol' thisspecification, and in which similar letters represent similar parts inall (the views. f

Figures 1, 2, and 3 illustrate the method of carrying my invention intopractice.

Various methods'and devices for using` pe-- troleum and otherhydrocarbons las fuel have been invented and experimented upon, and manyof them used with an unsatisfactory degree of success, the practicaldifficulties with all methods with which I am acquainted being thatperfect combustion has not been obtained. In the various methods usedthe uid hydrocarbon is'injected directly into the fire-box, either inone or more single jets, or in the form of a sprinkling-jet, and in someeases into a pan, and s eam is sometimes introduced for the purpose ofassisting the combustion; but in every case theresult is to a greater orless degree the same. A portion of the fluid is resolved into gas andconsumed; another portion is decomposed, but` not burned; passform ofsmoke, .clogging and illing the iiues and passages with soot, whileanother portion remains a solid residuum, filling the pan or bottom ofthe fire-box and soon rendering them useless.

It is found that different combustibles ignite at different degrees oftemperature. Phospliorus requires 15()o of heat, sulphur 4800 of heat,while the 'hydrocarbons require nearlyl 1,0000 of heat to ignite them.In practice I first discovered it to be a fact that in order to obtainperfect combustion of anyiiuid hydrocarbon it must be instantaneouslyand entirely resolved into gases. In the methods now in use a suicientdegree of permanent heat has not been obtained to resolve the moredenseY portions'of the fluid hydrocarbon; hence `the imperfections abovereferred to. Howto accomplish this result and make it practical hastherefore been the object of my study and inven tion.

I have obtained the desired result by providing, and placing at someconvenient point within the fire-box, a solid substance capable ofreceiving and retaining the required degree of heat, and impinging thefluid hydrocarbon upon or against said solid heated s ubstance, at thesame time providing, while in its nascent state, sufficient oxygen forperfect combustion, which combustion is thus obtained without smoke orresiduum.

Figs, 1, 2, and' 3 of the drawings illustrate one form of mechanicalconstruction or device for carrying my invention into practice in a caseWhere it is desirable to use, say, crude petroleum as fuel to generateheat or steam. Fig. 1 is a front view of the same. y a horizontalsection of the same on line A B.

Fig. 3 is avertical section of the same, takeny on line C D of Fig. 2.

` a represents the solid heated substance above referred to, and which Iterm a heater.77 This heater may be made of a multitude' of forms; butin this particular case I construct it, as shown, of a triangular form.Upon each of the three angles of this heater I impinge a stream or jetof petroleum through and by means of the pipes b b b, all of which pipesare connected with and supplied from the main oil-pipe c.

For the purposes hereinafter mentioned I provide a second series ofblow-pipes, d d d, (in this case entirely surrounding and embracing theoilpipes,) through which I inject air or steam, thus supplying oxygenforcombustion and'intensifying the heatat the desired points, and all'being connected With and supplied from the main pipe e. By means of thebranch inlet-pipe f this series of blow-pipes may be supplied witheither air or steam separately; or, by partially opening each of themain pipes e and f, any desired proportion of steam and air can be usedtogether. I should ordinarily use heated petroleum, heated air, andsuperheated steam; but this would be impracticable in rst starting theiire. In this particular case I place the oil-pipes b within theblow-pipes-d, first, for the purpose of heating the oil as it passesthrough the pipes and, secondly, by introducingthem into the blowpipes,if only nearthe outlet, and leaving the oil-pipes a little shorter thanthe blow-pipes The steam or air, bein g forced through thebloW Fig. 2 ispipes by a constant and considerable pressure, embraces and carries theoil with it to their outlet, Where the oil is forcibly im pin ged uponthe heater, mingled with the steam or air in the form of a tine spray,the steam or air thus serving to forcibly eject the oil in separateparticles or globules, and at the same time supplying oxygen forcombustion. y leaving the orifice of the oil-pipe b a short distanceback of' the orifice of the surrounding blowpipe d it will be impossiblefor the fire to run back77 li\nto the oil-pipes, or to cause anexplosion in any way. 'The entire apparatus is therefore perfectlysafe., and may be applied to a house furnace or stove with pert'cctsafety. In some cases it may be desirable to only enter the oil-pipesnear the outlet ofthe blow-pipes, as shown by the dotted lines bb. Inthe drawings a part of one of the blow-pipes d is re@ moved to show theend of the oil-pipe b.

By the above-described system of pipes, or their equivalent, petroleumand the necessary supply ofoxygcn can be introduced and impin ged uponthe heater by any number of jets, from one upward, according ascircumstances or the desired amountof heat shall require, arranging theheater to receive the required number of jets. Any additional amount of'oxygen or air necessary can be introduced through the draft holes orslots g g, or, if used in the fire-box of an ordinary boiler, air can beintroduced into theash-pit and through the grates, or by an air-box, asis done in housefurnaces. i

In addition to the above-described series of pipes, heater, 85e., somemeans must beV devised to keep up the requisite degree of constant heatin the heater. When this is made of' the upright triangular formindicated in the drawings, I construct it hollow, open at top andbottom, leaving the spaces h l1l under itssides, for the purposeshereinafter mentioned; or it may be set upon standards or legs suspendedfrom above, or arranged in any way to allow the heat and iiame to passunder and up through it. In this case I place the heater upon or over asaucer or pan, z', constructed of this form for the purpose of catchingany..

unburned particles of the oil which may drop from the heater when firststarting the fire.

I provide a third series ot' pipes, j j j, supplied Vfrom the main pipe7c, through which I force steam or air, they beingso arranged that,

in addition to the supplying of oxygen, they serve as blow-pipes toydirect currents of dame and heat upon the pan and resolve any unburnedparticles of oil remaining therein, thence reiiecting through' theopenings h hand up through thc heater, which, if necessary, may bepartially covered at Ythe top to retain and intensify the heat withinit. This series of pipes 9' may be supplied with steam or air, or both,as in the case of the pipes c. Each of' the main supply-pipes c, e, f,and 7c should be furnish ed with stop-cocks or valves -to regulate thesupply of oil, steam, and air.

My invention is intended to be applied and used in all cases where anyconsiderable amount of flame or heat is required. Itcan be used withequal advantagesin all kin'ds of' portable, stationary, and marineboilers, and

in locomotives for generating steam, under all kinds of stills andretorts, and may be adapted to most or all kinds of furnaces and stoves,even without the steam or air blow-pipes, provided sufficient oxygen isfurnished for combustion. By fixing or suspending a solid heater withinthe stove, furnace, or fire-box, and ilnpinging thereon one or more jetsof' petroleum, almost as many forms and arrangements of pipes andheaters can be used as there arcdifferent varieties and forms of'boilers, furnaces, stoves, &c., and yet .my newly-invented method ofobtaining a perfect combustion of' uid hydrocarbons, by impingin g a jetor jets of' the same upon a solid heated substance, will remain thesame. In many cases the re-pot lean be dispensed with, the internalsurface of' the iirc-boxrof the boiler, furnace, or stove serving toconfine and direct the heat to the fines or parts where heat isrequired.

It is perhaps needless to mention the advantages which my method ofobtaining a perfect combustion of the iiuid hydrocarbon possesses overother methods and devices which only produce a more or less imperfectcombustion.

`Aside from the fact that an apparatus constructed upon the principlesherein set forth may be used for months without coating over or cloggingthe fines and passages for heat and smoke, which is in itself a greatadvantage, both in convenience and economy, the relative cost ofgenerating and maintaining steam and heat by this and other methods isdirectly in proportion to the proportion of fuel decomposed and wasted.Taking, for illustration, a ten-horse-power boiler and engine doingagiven amount of work: When crude petroleum 'is-used as fuel, and burnedby the usual methods, from two to four, andv frequently six, barrels ofoil are -used every twenty-four hours. I have used an apparatusconstructed substantially as hereinbefore described a sufficient lengthof time to demonstrate that steam can be generated to supply I aten-horsepower boiler and engine, doing an ordinary amount of work, withfrom twenty to thirty gallons, or less than three-fourths of` a barrel,of oil per twenty-four hours, and that in a rudely-constructed apparatusthe cost for fuel by my process was less than twenty-five per cent. thatof any other process of burning hydrocarbons, coal, or wood. In applyingit to locomotives or marine boilers still greater advantages areobtained by the proportionately small amount of tonnage required tocarry the necessary fuel for the voyage, and the perfect safety to allwithI which, by my method, a fiuid hydrocarbon can be used.

y For the purposes of illustrating the prin ciple of my invention VIhave deemed it best to confine my description to one formor method ot'construction, but I do not desire at4 this time to limit myself to thisor any particular mechanical device for Working out and using myinvention, or to any particular form or arrangement of heater, asboilers, locomotives, furnaces, Src., of different shapes, sizes, andstyles of manufacture require different sizes and forms of mechanicaldevices for applying my invention to them, though all must be adapted tothe chemical principles and combinations of my discovery and invention;but

"What I claim as my specific invention, and desire to secure by LettersPatent, is-

1. Providing within the fire-box or furnace, for the purposes herein setforth, a solid substance, or its equivalent, capable of receiving andretaining the required degree of heat for resolving petroleum or otheriluidhydrocarbons into gases When brought in contact with the same.

2. The within-described method of supplying the fuel and oxygen, bydischargingpetroleum or other fluid hydrocarbons through one or morepipes having their orifices Within blowi -3. The use of one or moreblow-pipes, orl

Huid hydrocarbon into gases, for the purposes herein set forth.

5. An apparatus for burning petroleum and other iuid hydrocarbons,consisting, substantially, of a heater, one or more pipes for supplyingthe fluid hydrocarbon, and one or more blow-pipes, combined and appliedfor the purposes herein set forth.

Dated at Titusville, Pennsylvania, this 15th day of February, A. D.1867.

, GIDEoN-o. sPENcE.

AWitnesses: A f v ANDREW B. HOWLAND,

, HENRY BALDWIN,

